Monday, July 30, 2012

Our New House!!!

 Our laundry room/office.  The washer and dryer are on the other wall.  This works out perfect for us- and turned a useless space into something useful!
 Our Master Bedroom.  Mom and Dad bought us new bedding.  I used my old wall decor and spray painted it.  I had a blast. 
 Our bathroom
 The kitchen and dining room.  Eventually I want a china cabinet to display my grandma's dishes, but for now we are happy.  We added new appliances and drawer pulls!
 The front door...
 Our living room- I have no idea why this picture is this way...I've tried and can't get it to turn! 

 Our front entryway
 The guest bedroom
 What we call the "blue room"  which will someday house our future kids!
 Our guest bathroom
 More of the guest bathroom
 The front porch.  Next year I'll have more plants!!
 Our walkway- where the monkey grass will soon be divided and conquered.  It's TOO thick!!!
 The back patio
 The dog pens
 More of the backyard
 The bonus room/my scrapbook room/ the dogs room
I've been a horrible blogger lately- but we've just been so stinkin' busy!  Moving is hard work- I've decided.  Here are the new pictures of our house.  We are all moved in!  Luke and I are just amazed at how perfectly this house is for us.  The more we're here, the more we notice it.  The Lord has truly blessed us for sure!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

It's almost time!!!

I can hardly wait for Friday to get here....we are FINALLY closing on our house!!!  This week I've been reorganizing and moving boxes, as well as packing our unneeded things.  I can't sleep at night for thinking about the house- how I'm going to decorate, where things are going to go, how the dogs will adjust...all that jazz!  It will be a great time of change and Luke and I are super excited.  The Lord has sure taken us on one amazing journey and I can't wait to see what else He has in store!  I'll post more pictures soon!

Friday, April 13, 2012

What a Journey!


God works things out for his good, every time. His timing is ALWAYS perfect and I'm amazed of that again this week. While working on the Kingdom, Luke and I were wondering about our offer on the short sale. Luke and I laughed with each other and said, "Well, we'll hear something on Monday...after the Kingdom!" Well, you guessed it. We heard some news alright. Our offer was not accepted. The sellers made too much money to consider selling the house as a short sale, therefore it would have to undergo foreclosure- which could take 6 months or more. Well, we weren't willing to wait that long!

Our sweet real estate lady Kristen was eager to help us find a house. Well, in God's timing, we did! The same Monday our offer was declined, a For Sale By Owner, popped up on Zillow which Luke discovered late Monday night. On Saturday we went to see this house in Springhill Farms.

This whole house hunting time, I wanted a house to knock me down the minute I walked in the door. I hadn't felt that yet- and had been praying for it daily. Well, all it took was us pulling up to the driveway. I was in love. The owners couldn't have been any nicer!!!

We made an offer later that weekend and it was accepted. It still has to pass appraisal and we'll have an inspection done, but we are set as of now to close at the end of May. This has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I've had my ups and downs with God- my discussions, tears, and laughter, but all in all, I wouldn't trade this journey for the world. He has shown Luke and I his power, humor, and comfort in a time we have needed it the most. But, most importantly, we've both learned His timing is perfect! God is who He says He is and He can do what He says He will do! We just have to believe in that promise!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Memories of Valley Forge

A long post- but one I wanted to scrapbook someday!!!


Sweet Gum Balls- my how I will NOT miss you. Those dreaded trees grew by our Master Bedroom. I was always afraid in a storm they would fall over- but in 8 years they didn't! Those little sweet gum balls are like grenades, flying out of the lawn mower!

The red tip Fetinas that separated us from the neighbors. The neighbor kids climbed in these bushes, hid their toys, and were gotten onto by Luke and I more than I can count. Well, that is until Luke got the water hose after them! LOL!

Our project one summer- we took down that dreadful Bradford tree and planted a crepe Myrtle. My gosh was it hot, and dry, and hard work. I can't stand that it needs to be weeded- but hopefully the new owners will do that and appreciate our hard work!

The look across the street.

Our first house together!

Our Master bedroom- once painted a bright green. It once held a picket fence headboard and bright comforter....until my taste changed to grays and jewel tones.

Our guest bedroom/Luke's office/ Nick's bedroom/Mom's bedroom/Madison's favorite place to sleep room! It held the treadmill, a desk for Luke, and a daybed.

Our fireplace- been decorated many times!!

Our living room. Once was wall to wall with gray carpet. I loved it when Luke installed the laminate flooring. We spent lots of time watching TV, having friends over, decorating, etc. in this room. In fact, this room is where I found out Christylee was having a baby!!

Our kitchen. We shared many meals, arguments, laughs, food, and cries in this room.

I love this scripture- it's one Mom used to make Chris and I say on the way to school every morning. Psalm 17:8. Many hours were spent in the scrapbook/dog room. Mainly on the computer or working on some craft project.

Yes, this is nasty, but it proves we had 4 dogs in crates in the scrapbook room. It started out as 1 little Basset Hound and grew to 4 more!

Our master bathroom faucet. We got a complete bathroom upgrade due to a funky smell I couldn't get rid of. I was convinced it was coming from our old faucets. So, Luke replaced EVERYTHING- meaning all underneath stuff as well as the faucet. Come to find out, the smell was coming from the drain hole- all it needed was a little bleach!

Our garage entryway tile. Luke re-did this project twice. It was our first experience at laying tile due to the air conditioner backing up and ruining the carpet.

Our back door that was recently painted. However, this is the door Samson would always jump on when getting ready to come in. That's why there's doggie-smears on the door itself!

The stove in the Kitchen- where I cooked MANY a meal. The burners worked best at Medium- and how I miss knowing exactly where you could put the nob to cook a meal without burning it!

Our Rinky Dink Microwave. Yes, it's small...and no, it's not powerful. We had to cook things MUCH longer than required.

The red paves Luke and I added to our patio/deck. This was our first home improvement project.

Our backyard- where we started out with 1 dog and no fence. It grew to a fence and 5 dogs! Eventually we had to put in dog pens- as the outside punks didn't get along!

Our refrigerator....where the ice would sometimes freeze up- literally- and you would have to dry it out with a hair dryer... strange, I know!

It was hard for me to leave our first house together. I went back after everything was moved out to take some pictures and clean. It was closure for me. I realized that all the memories we made in the 8 years being in that house- well, I can take those with me! Home is truly where your heart is, not just your address.

Moving Out...



Out with the dining room table

Greg pointing out our hairballs! LOL!







The first weekend in March, we moved from Valley Forge to our rent house. It was sad seeing our furniture being moved out, but I was amazed at how quickly we emptied the house! And yes, sadly, there were TONS of hairballs and dust behind the furniture...I'm not as good a housekeeper as I thought! LOL!

We couldn't have done it without all our friends and family helping out. Luke's Dad brought a U-haul truck in, his Uncle Jeff brought a trailer along with our friend Greg. Dad and Jason also helped out a ton! We started the day off with sausage biscuits and donuts. We ate lunch at the rent house and were finished around 2pm. Not too shabby!

We've unpacked the BARE essentials here at the rent house. So, I know I am having trouble remembering which box stuff is in...oh well! Luke and I went back to Valley Forge that night to move the animals out. We packed their crates in the van- and they rode in them to our rent house. It has taken everyone over a week to get accustomed to the new routines here...even though we've tried to keep it the same. Our beagle Snoopy- who is special needs- is having a hard time, but I'm hoping his prozac will keep helping him.

All in all, we're settled as can be for now. We are still waiting to hear about the offer we made on a house! As we needed time after Luke lost his job, well the Lord worked that out too- our offer sat on the WRONG desk for over 3 weeks. Now, it's in the right hands, and we are just patiently waiting!

Wye Mountain with Lily











Monday, Christylee and I took Lily for her annual Wye Mountain pictures. We got her posed and ready- only for me to realize I forgot my SD Card in my camera. So, we took a side trip to Walmart, got some snacks, a card, and we were on our way. It didn't hit me until I was looking through my camera lens how my Lily has grown in the past 3 1/2 years. Our first time taking her out to Wye Mountain- was the first time she sat up by herself. Here she is now talking, posing, and having a good old time. My how time flies! I sure love this little girl!